Sunday December 18 - Columbus Blue Jackets 4 - Vancouver Canucks 3 (OT)
After two sleepy periods that offered minimal offense from the home team, the Vancouver Canucks were able to earn a single point against the NHL's hottest team when they fell 4-3 in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Here are your highlights:
And don't credit John Tortorella's commitment to shot-blocking for Vancouver's lack of offense to start the game, either. The Blue Jackets finished the game with 16 blocks compared to eight for Vancouver, but at the end of the first period the blocks were 4-3 in favour of the Canucks.
The game tilted in the second period thanks to two penalties by Luca Sbisa. The Blue Jackets came into the game with the best power play in the NHL and Cam Atkinson needed just 35 seconds to convert to give his team the 1-0 lead. Later in the period, Brandon Saad needed a full 90 seconds to make the Blue Jackets a perfect 2-for-2 with the man advantage for the day, assisted by Scott Hartnell and Brandon Dubinsky.
I'm still remembering back to last summer, when it was believed that the Blue Jackets were handcuffed by their salary-cap commitments and were unable to unload players with big deals like Saad and Hartnell. Turns out, those guys have been a big part of the team's success this year.
But the Canucks weren't out of it. They started the third period on the power play and were able to generate enough pressure to quickly force another penalty. That set up Brandon Sutter's ninth goal of the season and another chorus of "Callin' Baton Rouge."
It's a bit of a divisive goal song, and we've heard it pretty often—Sutter has scored just once on the road this season; the other eight goals have all come at Rogers Arena.
Five minutes later, Daniel Sedin tied the game with a bank shot off the leg of Jack Johnson that deflected past a stunned Sergei Bobrovsky.
Daniel Sedin shot hits Jack Johnson and goes in - #Canucks tie the game at 2 pic.twitter.com/Qs0Yvr4hpp
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) December 18, 2016
And the goals kept coming. Ben Hutton got lost in no-man's land as Saad scored his second of the game to put Columbus back in front with less than five minutes to play.
Brandon Saad with his second goal of the game - to put #BlueJackets up 3-2#Canucks pic.twitter.com/EQbR69A6i8
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) December 18, 2016
But cue Jannik Hansen—a player who had a tough run when John Tortorella coached the Canucks, and who has been less-than-impactful since returning to the lineup from his rib injury four games ago.
Overtime it is!
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 18, 2016
Who scores the golden #Canucks goal? pic.twitter.com/KODwI9FcKu
After an impressive showing from the red-hot Blue Jackets, it was great to see the Canucks stick with the game, earn a single point and get a chance to end the Columbus winning streak. But it was not to be.
As we see so often in 3-on-3 overtime, a missed chance at one end leads to a goal at the other. In this case, it was a goalpost for Ben Hutton that quickly turned the play in the other direction, setting up Seth Jones' game winner.
All in all, a pretty entertaining afternoon of hockey. A smug John Tortorella earned his 500th NHL coaching win and the Jackets' surge continues, but the Canucks can feel pretty good about the end result even though they sputtered offensively for much of the game and continue to struggle to string together consecutive wins.
The single point puts Vancouver five points out of the Western Conference wild-card spots to start the last week before the Christmas break, with three teams to pass. One of those teams is the Winnipeg Jets—four points ahead of the Canucks with two more games played, and with two games coming up here in Vancouver this week. The Canucks could make a real move in the standings and head into the holidays on a positive note if they could muster two wins over Winnipeg.
Two other signs that the holiday break is drawing near...
First, the Christmas roster freeze goes into effect tonight.
#NHL Holiday Roster Freeze begins tonight & ends on Dec 28. Here are the main points around the freeze, what it means, & notable exceptions. pic.twitter.com/k8Idwk1bLc
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 19, 2016
Also, World Junior action begins. Today is the first day of pre-competition action, with Canada facing Finland. That'll be a game of interest to Canucks fans.
Olli Juolevi will captain Team Finland at the #WJC2017!#LondonKnights #Leijonat pic.twitter.com/S427PZfuXy
— Ville Loppinen (@maattanger) December 19, 2016
The Finns, of course, are the defending World Junior champs.
Today's game will be televised from Montreal, at 4 p.m. PT on TSN2. Tournament action begins in one week, on Boxing Day.
The Canucks did practice this morning at Rogers Arena. No surprises.
No Gudbranson, Dorsett, Larsen or Edler as #Canucks begin practice. pic.twitter.com/vCxh7sC25n
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 19, 2016
Word is that both Troy Stecher and Andrey Pedan are skating on defense. Stecher had been questionable for Sunday's game, then took a hard hit from Boone Jenner in the second period.
Stecher just went into the boards awkwardly with Jenner. He was down before skating off on his own, straight to the #Canucks room.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 18, 2016
The rookie only missed about five minutes of game action. He assisted on Sutter's third-period goal, and it's good to hear he's at practice today.